Barbarians: Secrets of the Dark Ages

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[edit] General Information

History Documentary hosted by Richard Rudgley, published by Channel 4 in 2002 - English narration

[edit] Cover

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Rome is falling... It is the time of the barbarians. In Secrets Of The Dark Ages, Richard Rudgley goes in search of evidence of the barbarians of the dark ages, people whose names have for 1500 years been bywords for mindless brutality: the Huns, the Vandals, the Goths. The real truth about the barbarians who marched across Europe during the Dark Ages is more shocking than what you may know!

The books tell us that the barbarians created nothing worth having. But this programme shows us that this was far from the truth, that the so-called barbarians created the modern map of Europe, that they were often tolerant and far seeing peoples, that they created great art and democratic values, that the barbarian legacy lives on in us today.

See how the sturdy walls and gorgeous mosaics of the Roman Empire, centuries in the making, were swept away almost overnight by marauding tribes. Witness their bold new style of warfare, lightning fast and unforgiving in its ferocity. Step inside the camps of these nomadic peoples, whose aggression was generally motivated by greed. Yet the same feral instincts which drove their conquests also fuelled brilliant innovations, like sophisticated farming techniques and sleek sailing vessels that redrew the boundaries of the known world.

This series will reveal their revolutionary fighting styles, and demonstrate what their greed-inspired aggression achieved for them. Where did they come from? Who are their descendants? Are any of their techniques and inventions still used? It is a journey that takes us all across Europe, from the cold northern seas off Scandinavia to the heart of the Great Hungarian plain - and Richard discovers the secrets of forgotten empires, and of mighty clashes throughout Europe, as hordes of migrants flooded into the Roman world across the Rhine, as Asiatic nomads swarmed over the Alps, as African Berber armies struck deep into Spain.

A thought-provoking account of some of our most fascinating ancestors by an author/presenter renowed for bringing less familiar history to life. The Dark Ages is an era in European history that are both little-known and little-understood. In this series Richard Rudgley challenges the conventional portrait of a dangerous and barbaric time. Through archaeological investigation and critical analysis, the art, society and cultural legacy of the barbarians are shown to have shaped and moulded the destiny of Europe even more than the Roman Empire. It is the ethnic mosaic of the Huns, Goths, Vandals, Anglo-Saxons, Vikings and others that Richard reveals in this retelling of an often misunderstood time in our collective history.

The series is divided into three sections, the first starting with the fall of Rome, the second with the Anglo-Saxon invasion of Britain and the third with the rise of the Norse culture of the Vikings leading to the end of the Dark Ages.

A Granada Television Production for Channel Four.

[edit] History's Hells Angels

Richard Rudgley presents a three part series that journeys to the heart of Europe's forgotten past. In this first part of the journey through the Dark Ages we will be tracing the legacies of the Huns, Vandals and Goths, looking at both the migrant tribes, and the pre-existing tribes, to ask whether the "dark ages" represent a resurfacing of much older tribal lines. What the Romans had built was destroyed by these people in double quick time, seemingly replacing the homogeny of Empire with a ramshackle barbarian world stretching from the North Sea, to the western Steppes. Sites in Austria show how sophisticated pre-Roman communities had become with evidence of stunning craftsmanship and sophisticated farming techniques which defy the image of a mindless rabble we have come to accept without challenge.

[edit] In a Time of Shadows

On the second part of his journey through the dark ages Richard Rudgley continues into the age of the wandering peoples, the Volkerwanderung. It is the time when the Anglo-Saxons impose their culture and their authority on the Northern reaches of Europe. It is a time when we discover that the first Englishmen were, in fact, Germans. These Northern people enjoyed a golden age unaffected by Rome and just 30 years after the Romans relinquished Britain, the "Anglo-Saxons" made their move. The bedraggled legions are in retreat. Walls are pulled down. Mosaics shattered. And yet there never was a people called Anglo-Saxon. We look at the lasting influence of Saxon leaders like Alfred the Great, and his blue print for social justice.

[edit] Out of the Darkness

The third assault on the tattered remains of Roman civilisation came from even further North, where the melting glacial ice had created immense sheltered fjords, leaving its inhabitants little choice but the sea. Long before Nelson, these fearless navigators understood that dominion over the oceans was the key to their ambitions. Where the Romans expanded incrementally, the Vikings adopted a bolder, more aggressive approach. So was it the Dark Age which failed Europe, or the stifling uniformity of the great Roman experiment? Were the lost tribes more victim than failure? Richard Rudgley will hope to shed new light on the real secrets of the so-called Dark Age.

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[edit] Technical Specs

Video Codec: x264 CABAC High@L4
Video Bitrate: 1 995 Kbps
Video Resolution: 716x464
Display Aspect Ratio: 3:2
Frames Per Second: 29.970 fps
Audio Codec: AC3
Audio Bitrate: 192 kb/s CBR 48000 Hz
Audio Streams: 2
Audio Languages: english
RunTime Per Part: 49 min
Number Of Parts: 3
Part Size: 766 MB - 769 MB
Source: DVD
Encoded by: DocFreak08